Promise
by Fairyyoshi
Summary: My first full-fledged Dark Sector story. Hayden swore to her he would keep his promise and protect her. Even if it meant travelling to the far corners of Lasria to do so.


**Please note: I do not own Hayden Tenno or any Dark Sector related themes. This is my first "Pure Dark Sector" fanfiction, so please R & R. **

Chapter 1.

Mezner leaned back in his chair, looking at the holographic images which danced around him. Images of the Lasrian infection, its carnage, and the face of Hayden Tenno. His Glaive raised about to strike down an infected. Mezner cursed under his breath, rotating the images, shuffling through them. Hayden was still alive and fighting, this was not good. Not good at all. Mezner knew what would happen if Hayden found out Mezner's location. The thought made him cringe. He could almost feel the Glaive slicing through his flesh, through bone; slowly killing him to Hayden's pleasure. He felt the back of his neck and sighed quietly. He couldn't afford to let that happen…not yet. The infection had almost claimed the lives of everyone in South Lasria; slowly making its way North, his plan was almost complete.

He was about to leave his post when a small image caught his eye. He brought it up and enlarged it. It was the smiling face of a man, perhaps in his early 50's. The man was standing in a small make-shift lab and was dressed in a lab coat. To Mezner's surprise, there was a small video attachment, a recording of the man speaking about the infection. The recording was in bits-and-pieces but the few legible words made Mezner curse.

"_I believe I have found a cure for Technocyte. By giving the blood of a person immune to the infection to an infected; the blood seems to quell the blood-thirsty nature of the infected._"

Mezner cursed to himself, making the video and image disappear.

"That's impossible! There's no one…"

But then he remembered, he was partially immune. He remembered making himself unable to fully transform…wait a minute, could there be other like him? People somehow immune? If that was true, his plan to infect the world would fail, his master plan…it couldn't fail…he refused to let that happen. Even if the man was lying, he couldn't risk it. He summoned Nemesis, who bowed as Mezner approached.

"_You summoned me, master?_"

It hissed as Mezner glared at the beast.

"I need you to go to Lasria and kill this man. He is attempting to meddle in my affairs and he must be eliminated."

"_As you wish, master._"

Nemesis stood up and walked out the door, Mezner smiled.

**2 YEARS LATER**

Hayden swore loudly, pressing himself against a large stone pillar as he reloaded his gun. He was surrounded by infected and soldiers in Hazardous Material 'HazMat' suits. Running out into the open, he opened fire with the shotgun, mowing down the HazMats with little worry, before somersaulting over to a fountain as the infected hoard came closer. He put his shotgun away and called upon his Glaive, which he threw, cutting 3 infected in half. He smiled as he saw the infected begin to back down. As the Glaive returned to him, he threw it again, decapitating another 2 infected.

"This isn't gonna take long."

He said calmly as the Glaive once again returned to its master's hand. He was about to throw it again when he saw a girl run out across the street. She yelled something in Russian and a large dog came running beside the girl. On command the dog tackled the nearest infected to the ground. The infected screamed as the dog's strong jaws clamped around the infected's throat, quickly ending its life.

"What the hell?"

Hayden stood up and gasped as another infected jumped onto the girl's back, knocking her onto the cobblestone ground.

"Get off her!"

Hayden roared as he ran towards the girl. He grabbed the infected by the throat. With a loud snap he broke its neck and threw its lifeless body off the girl, who was now trembling. Her eyes were brimming with tears. Hayden quickly gave her a quick look-over, making sure she wasn't infected. When he saw nothing he sighed with relief.

"Hey, are you ok?"

He asked as he held the girl in his arms.

"Oh my god! Look out!"

The girl suddenly screamed, so loud as to startle him. There was one infected left. The infected farmer raced towards Hayden and the girl, its small rusted axe raised above its head. Hayden called his Glaive, but it was too late. The farmer leapt into the air, Hayden moved so that the girl wouldn't be hit, but by doing so, it put him in the blade's path. The jagged, rusted axe blade came down on Hayden's back, causing him to scream. Hayden turned around and slugged the infected in the face, so hard that its face made a sickening crack and hot blood splashed on his hand. The girl staggered to her feet and rushed over to Hayden, who had now collapsed. He was cursing profoundly and thrashing about in a small pool of blood that was beginning to form underneath him. The girl looked at Hayden sadly before running off into the shadow of an alley. Hayden continued to curse, scream and thrash on the ground. It didn't really 'hurt' due to his condition, but the burning, prickling feeling was certainly not a good feeling. It was the closest thing he ever felt to pain. He couldn't think straight, the only thing on his mind was the burning sensation coming from his back.

He called out for help, but the good was gone and he began to panic. He knew that the smell of blood would attract more infected, and he was unable to defend himself. Suddenly he heard a noise, it sounded like a loud crash, like something falling and hitting the ground. The girl reappeared, wheeling a small wrecked wagon behind her, the dog was barking loudly.

"Don't worry, you'll be okay."

The girl said softly as she struggled to pick up the near unconscious Hayden. She placed him on his stomach in the back of the wagon and wheeled him away. Hayden saw what was going around him, but he couldn't make out any details. Slowly his eyes fluttered closed and he drifted into a 'pain'-induced sleep.


End file.
